Walcher: What will they promise California?

by Greg Walcher, Senior Policy Fellow As Appearing in The Daily Sentinel

The ballot initiative regarding the National Popular Vote compact is officially on the 2020 ballot, so the campaign begins, both sides preparing to spend a small fortune to convince voters to change — or not change — the Electoral College. Colorado’s initiative process provides citizens the power to veto acts of the Legislature, and there is a good chance voters will decide to do that, though not for the reasons many pundits predict.

Numerous articles and speeches suggest that if Coloradans give away the power of their votes to the larger states, candidates would feel no need to campaign in Colorado. That would end more than a century of important political history.

Since Theodore Roosevelt spent three weeks at the Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs in 1905, every president but one has visited the Centennial State, some of them many times. So did unsuccessful candidates including Willkie, Dewey, Stevenson, Goldwater, Humphrey, McGovern, Mondale, Dukakis, Dole, Gore, Kerry, McCain, Romney, and Hillary Clinton. In fact, in 2016 there were no fewer than 19 presidential campaign events in Colorado, and this year at least four candidates for the 2020 election have already been to Colorado. President Obama spent a total of over two weeks in Colorado, including a Grand Junction rally at Cross Orchards, and his acceptance speech at Mile High Stadium. President Trump campaigned in Grand Junction, as well as Pueblo, Denver, and Colorado Springs.